On 5 October 2018, 6th Forum of Rural Communities was held in the Parakar House of Culture of Armavir Region. The goal of the forum was to form a new vision for the development of rural areas, based on social, economic and bio-diversity.
The forum was co-funded by the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” (CCD) project funded by the European Union.
Starting from 2011, the Union of Communities of Armenia, jointly with the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development and other partner entities, organises fora of rural communities.
Emin Yeritsyan, the President of the Union of Communities of Armenia, a CCD project implementing consortium member, attached importance in his speech to the development of a comprehensive strategy for rural areas, where priorities for agriculture, forestry, suburban living, administration, infrastructures, social responsibility, digitalisation and other areas will be set out.
Emin Yeritsyan stressed the need for making life attractive in rural communities. Addressing management issues, the President of the Union said: “Communities and rural areas can develop only in case of a really multi-level management approach.” According to Emin Yeritsyan, regardless of various political approaches, the main principles are permanent: “A full territorial approach, not a sectoral one, must be initiated to involve communities as partners or leaders, approaches based on advantages, not needs, must be initiated.”
Vanik Berberyan, the President of the Association of Rural Communities of France, said that the movement from villages to cities is typical of a number of countries, including Armenia and France. In that context, he emphasised balance between villages and cities. “It took several decades for us to turn from a rural society to an urbanised society… If we want some things to take place rapidly, we must be able to be community heads and councils in our areas to be aggressive and protect the interest of their community.”
Former RA Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan raised a number of issues: land privatisation, management issues, etc. Then he added, “We’ve been robbing villages for 22 years. Cities and industries rob the villages. Nowadays, peasants live worse. This is why peasants sell semi-processed products made from agricultural products instead of agricultural products. For example, a brandy company must buy from peasants wine or brandy alcohol instead of grapes. VAT made on the way from grapes to wine and wine to brandy stays in the village. Thus, we must follow the path of strengthening small rural economies.”
Many heads of rural communities, as well as representatives of non-governmental organisations, the business community and international organisations, attended the forum.
In the second part of the forum, issues related to the development of tourism in Armenia were addressed. Mekhak Apresyan, the Head of the Armenian Federation of Tourism, presented sustainable tourism in his report as an effective means for proportionate territorial development. Concrete examples of tourism development were also presented.
